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USS Burton Island (AG-88) crew members appear to be playing six-man football in the snow at the South Pole. The ship along with her sister icebreaker USS Edisto (AG-89) were taking part in Operation Windmill (1947-1948), an expedition established by the Chief of Naval Operations to train personnel, test equipment, and reaffirm American interests in Antarctica.Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Archives - History Division

Bill Gonyo

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USS Burton Island (AG-88) underway, circa 1946-March 1949.

The Burton Island Association

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USS Burton Island (AG-88) underway in the Arctic during "Exercise Barex-48", early 1948.

USS Burton Island (AGB-1) outbond to sea passing Point Loma at the mouth of the harbor entrance to San Diego harbor,
date unknown.US Navy photo.

Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.

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USS Burton Island (AGB-1) clears a channel through the Arctic ice in 1953 to permit passage of other ships.US Navy photo.

Tommy Trampp

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USS Burton Island (AGB-1) off Nome, Alaska, in May 1954 during a spring cruise to the Arctic. She has put a gangway over the
side for a liberty party. Note the Piasecki (Vertol) HUP helicopter hovering overhead.US Navy photo # USN 641186, from the collections of the US Naval
History and Heritage Command, courtesy Shipscribe.com.

Robert Hurst

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USS Burton Island (AGB-1) at anchor off St. Lawrence Island in the middle of the Bering Sea, circa 1950.Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # 7252-10-50 taken by the ship's photographer PHAN W. L. Anderson. Burton Island was at Mare Island from 29 September to 4 December 1959.

Darryl Baker

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USS Burton Island (AGB-1) fighting heavy ice while bringing supplies to the scientific station at Cape Hallette, Antarctica,
in early 1964 during Operation Deepfreeze. To contend with fifteen-foot thick ice blocking her route, she placed charges of TNT in holes drilled in the ice around the
ship and then applied full power to her six Diesel-electric engines as the charges were detonated.US Navy photo # USN 823888, from the collections of the
US Naval History and Heritage Command, courtesy Shipscribe.com.

From left to right, USS Burton Island (AGB-1), USS Atka (AGB-3) and USS Glacier (AGB-4) pushing an iceberg out of the channel near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 29 December 1965.US Navy photo from DANFS.

USCGC Burton Island (WABG-283) meets up in McMurdo Sound, Antarctic, during "Operation Deep Freeze", 1969 with two sister Coast Guard icebreakers.
USCG Glacier (WAGB-4) is close aboard to starboard and USCG Southwind (WAGB-280) is directly astern.US Coast Guard photo from the collections of the US Coast Guard Historian's Office.

Robert Hurst

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USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4), followed by USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283), and USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) as they crush a path through heavily iced McMurdo Sound, in the Antarctic for cargo ships to follow to the main base at Hut Point, Ross Island, during "Operation Deep Freeze", 1969.US Coast Guard photo # GAP1-01-00-69; 1969

Robert Hurst

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USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283) post December 1966

The Burton Island Association

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USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283) moored in the ice at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, January, 1968. Here she displays an early design of the Coast Guard stripe that does not include the Coast Guard shield. Coast Guard cutters began adding the stripe to their hulls beginning in 1967. Photo by LCDR R. H. Stracener, USCG